Spotlight Story
Emerald Library™ was honored to welcome internationally bestselling author Shannon Messenger to our Big Readers Book Club for an inspiring author spotlight and live conversation with young readers around the world.
This special event brought together avid readers from Spain, the United States, Mexico, England, Italy, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, and more united by a shared love of books, imagination, and storytelling.
Shannon Messenger, award-winning author of the middle-grade Keeper of the Lost Cities series shared how her creative path led her from studying screenwriting and television production at USC to discovering that writing for kids and teens was where she felt most at home.
During our conversation, Shannon offered a behind-the-scenes look at how Keeper of the Lost Cities began: a big, “much more complicated than I’d ever planned” idea that required deep world-building, patience, and revision. She shared that the first book went through many drafts and years of development before publication, proof that strong stories are built over time.
Trust the story, trust the process, and trust yourself — whatever word is on the page, you’ll shine it up later.
- Shannon Messenger
Our Big Readers especially loved her approach to world-building: making key decisions, then following the “logical ripples” of those choices so the fantasy world feels consistent, believable, and alive. She explained that imperfections and flaws in a world are often what create meaningful conflict, and ultimately, the story itself.
Shannon also shared practical, encouraging advice for young writers. Instead of thinking of “writer’s block” as something permanent, she reframes it as simply being stuck and uses a bold “what if?” game to unlock new possibilities. For character creation, she asks one powerful question: What is this character hiding? Discovering a character’s secret, she explained, often reveals their unique voice and personality.
As the event closed, Shannon thanked readers, librarians, teachers, and booksellers for helping books travel through communities and across countries, reminding us that “stories grow because readers share them.”
We are deeply grateful to Shannon Messenger for her generosity, her insight, and the lasting impact her books continue to have on young readers everywhere.